BABE RUTH: West Windsor-Plainsboro wins in extras

EWING — Hayden Reyes’ arm and Austin McGinley’s bat got the job done in extra innings last night at Moody Park to send West Windsor-Plainsboro into tonight’s championship round of the District One Babe Ruth Tournament for 15-year olds.

Reyes pitched four innings of excellent relief after replacing starter Patrick Tso, while McGinley drove in the winning runs with a two-out double in the ninth to give WW-P a 3-1 win over Hopewell Valley at Fred Walters Field.

That earned WW-P a 6 p.m. matchup tonight with unbeaten Mercer East to see who will claim the District One title. If WW-P wins the teams will meet again at 8:30 to decide the title.

The games will be broadcast on the WBCB Sports Network on WRRC (107.7 FM) following The Trentonian Pregame Show at 5:45 p.m.

Both Mercer East and WW-P are assured of going to next week’s Southern N.J. State Tournament that Mercer East will host. WW-P will go in as the second of three District One teams in the 12-team tournament.

Because of a new development it looks like Hopewell Valley won’t be able to play as the third district team in the state playoffs because it may not have enough players to take part. If manager Don Wiley’s club can’t get enough players and drops out Nottingham, the fourth place finisher which lost on Wednesday to WW-P, would be the other local state qualifier.

If last night was HoVal’s final game of this all-star season it certainly went on impressively.

Held scoreless with three hits off WW-P’s Tso for six innings, HoVal forced extra innings when Will Karp opened the seventh with a walk, got to third on Curtis Martin’s sacrifice and a passed ball and scored when Jeff Wiley, the starting HoVal pitcher, knocked a ball to the mound that hit off Tso’s glove and off shortstop Reyes’ glove as Karp scored to tie the game.

In the top of the seventh Karp had come on to relieve Jeff Wiley who had loaded the bases with three straight walks. Karp once again sparkled on the mound getting two strikeouts to end that threat, then tying it in the bottom of the seventh.

Karp worked out of a two-on, two-out WW-P threat in the eighth with a groundout, but in the ninth had Colin Taylor get a leadoff walk and C.J. Markisz draw an intentional walk one out later.

After Drew Panson flew out for the second out, McGinley smacked his double to the left field corner to break the tie and give WW-P a two-run cushion. Reyes sealed the win with a groundout to the mound and two to short in the bottom of the ninth.

“I was just looking for any pitch I could get the bat on and get to the outfield,” McGinley said of his second hit of the game. “It wasn’t too frustrating after they had tied it, I just had to settle Hayden down so we could get another chance. I’m just excited we’re getting a chance to play for the district championship.”

Last year WW-P won the District One title then went all the way to the Middle Atlantic Regional after rolling through the state tourney held at Nottingham. Only two players have returned from that team – C.J. Markisz and Justin O’Leary.

Mercer East is 3-0 in this year’s district series with manager Bill Wilmer’s group hoping to add the 15-year old title to the 14-year old championship it claimed in 2012 when it also got to the MAR. It did not face WW-P in this year’s 15-year old series, but the teams did meet in a pre-district tournament last month with Mercer East pulling out the win over WW-P.